Who ARE you Dinstaar!

I cannot avoid asking. We seem on an equal wavelenth. Could just be my extented non intended disfunction though.

reply to post by jpm1602


I don't understand why you posted this? Also why did you post this in the rant forum? Wouldn't this be better suited to an u2u?

lol.... I just stumbled upon this.

I do many things, all of which I do not truly identify myself as. When I say I 'am' a student I do not mean that a student is essence of my being, but in our language the verb 'to be' is being misused.

Westerners have a problem by identifying living objects by what they do. If one asked their father 'who' they are the response would be a list of things that one's father does and/or situations in the fathers life.
My father, when asked this question responds as such...
I am a loving father of four
I am a Professor
I am a loving husband
I am a registered independent
I am a white middle aged man
...etc...

Does this truly capture the essence of my father? I think not, I think it merely translates a bunch of his actions and situations into words.

We identify objects in this world by what we perceive them. This is Korzybski's 'is of identity'. To say that "this acorn is brown" is more accurately portrayed as 'the acorn seems to be brown in accordance with the perception of the acorn by my own eyes'.

Another problem I see with written and spoken language is that people prefer to say that they are a multi-faceted individual. Saying that the cumulation of all that they do, and all the situations in their life make up the mosaic that 'is' the person.

So... When I am asked "Who are you?" I can merely state Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. This is the only complete statement about myself that does not deny my potential.

My humble apologies if posted on wrong board. Please excuse me while I try to repair the burn tracks off my scalp. All I know is I 'used' to hold a nice 3.6 av at a collegiate school, but I can't hold a candle to some of these cats around here. God Bless. Adios.

[edit on 27-11-2007 by jpm1602]

A 'rant' is such a hard topic to define. I am sure this thread could be considered a 'rant'. Maybe just my part. Its rantish anyway.